A special shelf inside the Quick Stop convenience store in DeKalb stays filled with free food and beverages.

In heavy rotation are water, energy drinks, rice and more.

It is all thanks, in part, to Demetrius Page.

The DeKalb resident works at Quick Stop and has the backing from the store’s leadership to establish a platform to help young people in the community.

Page said he doesn’t believe young people always have the support they need to thrive.

“This whole town needs to be shaken up,” Page said. “It needs to be more love here. There’s no love here. And these kids need more activities.”

Page said he believes he can make a difference in the community.

“We’re going to make it happen for the city of DeKalb,” Page said. “We’re going to make sure that these kids and the students [from] NIU get exactly the things that they really need.”

Page has only been working at Quick Stop for about a year. But his efforts as a community organizer have not gone unnoticed.

Quick Stop store manager Kamal Abdelfadil said he believes in Page and the promise behind what he’s looking to accomplish.

When Page first pitched the idea to the store leadership at Quick Stop last year, Abdelfadil was quickly sold.

“I was like, ‘That’s love,’” Abdelfadil said.

Abdelfadil said he’s long wondered how the convenience store could help make an impact in the community.

He said the sense of community in DeKalb pales in comparison to his time growing up in Sudan.

“I’ve lived in so many places. This is the toughest place [I’ve] ever been,” Abdelfadil said.

But word has been spreading about the free food and drinks available to area youth in the store at 910 Pappas Drive.

Abdelfadil said he sees area youth dropping in all the time.

Mission driven

Page said he’s long been into community organizing.

It all goes back to Page’s time growing up in the Englewood Neighborhood on Chicago’s south side. He credits his upbringing, in part, for instilling in him a desire to help others.

Page is carrying out his mission in more ways than one these days.

Page runs a nonprofit organization called Midwest Family, a group whose mission is to help feed and give away clothing to people who are in need.

He runs the organization alongside his wife, Knenosha Fields-Page. They have been married since 2011.

Page draws some of his inspiration for community organizing from the journey of his wife’s grandmother, Catherine Griffin-Nemo.

Page said Griffin-Nemo is the reason that he and his wife started Midwest Family.

Griffin-Nemo was born in 1923 and had ties to the Civil Rights movement in Marion, Alabama. She was a member of the South Austin Coalition Community Council, a grassroots organization aimed at organizing and mobilizing residents in Chicago. Griffin-Nemo died in October 2009.

Fields-Page said Griffin-Nemo had made a large impression on her growing up.

“She always dragged me along when I was a little girl to go to marches, anything that’s done with the community,” Fields-Page said.

Together, Fields-Page and her husband strive to carry out Griffin-Nemo’s legacy.

Page is furthering his mission through his work for the Social Change and We Are Project I Am organizations. Social Change is devoted to helping the underserved to achieve self-sufficiency, and We Are Project I Am has a mission to help support the unhoused.

Page also took time to help spread a bit of cheer in the DeKalb community around the holiday season late last year.

At that time, Quick Stop was host to a Christmas-themed event for area youth and their families featuring karaoke, free pizza and watermelon, a poetry show, an open mic, new clothes, and more. The community event was a first for Page in the DeKalb area.

Page said he considered the event successful.

“The kids [were] very happy,” Page said.

Other community events are in the works.

Moving forward

Page acknowledged there’s still work that needs to be done in the community to help support area youth.

“I feel like they need more,” he said. “They need more love and more peace.”

Page criticized some local leaders, saying they’re not doing enough.

“I feel like you need to be on the front line,” Page said. “You need to be in a community. You need to know what’s going on in this ... community.”

Page said he believes he’s filling a great need in the community.

“These kids need more activities,” he said. “They need more resources.”